Facebook lifts ban on US political ads

Facebook has lifted its ban on political and social-issue ads put in place after the 2020 US presidential election.

Political candidates, groups and others can now place ads on Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook announced its decision in a blog post which can be viewed here.

Restricting political advertisements following the November election was among the host of measures Facebook put in place last year in an attempt to ensure its platform is not used to sow chaos and spread misinformation.

Facebook halted US political ads when the polls closed on Nov. 3, an extension of an earlier restriction on new political ads in the week leading up to Election Day.

The social media giant has had a months-long freeze on political, electoral and social ads, which it introduced as part of an effort to crack down on misinformation and abuses around the Nov. 3 elections.
It said at the time that the ban would be temporary but did not give a clear end date.

READ MORE: Facebook rejects over 2 million ads ahead of US election

Facebook had temporarily lifted its ad pause in Georgia for the state's January runoff elections but put it back in place.

“We’ve heard a lot of feedback about this and learned more about political and electoral ads during this election cycle,” the company said in a blog post Wednesday. “As a result, we plan to use the coming months to take a closer look at how these ads work on our service to see where further changes may be merited.”

Alphabet Inc's Google, which had lifted its own political ad ban in December, later reinstated it following the January 6 siege at the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. 

Google lifted the ban last week.

Democratic and Republican digital strategists have argued that such bans were overly broad and failed to combat the issue of organic misinformation on the platforms.

READ MORE: US lawmakers slam Big Tech 'monopolies'

Earlier on Wednesday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) issued a statement criticising Facebook for not committing to a clear date to end the ban, saying the freeze had made it harder for campaigns and organisations to reach voters.

Facebook, which noted in its blog post that its systems do not distinguish between political and electoral ads and "social issue" ads, said it would look in the coming months at what other changes to its ads might be needed.